UC San Diego's Season Comes to a Close in NCAA Semifinal Round
PITTSBURGH – UC San Diego’s 2018 women’s soccer campaign has come to a close at the hands of Bridgeport after the Purple Knights handed the Tritons just their third loss of the year in the NCAA Semifinal round on a chilly Thursday night at Highmark Stadium.
The triple-title winning Tritons came just one match short of making it four, capping the year as CCAA regular-season and tournament winners to go along with a West Region trophy. Meanwhile, Bridgeport is riding an eight-match winning streak into the year’s final match on the docket.
UC San Diego senior All-American and CCAA Offensive Player of the Year Mary Reilly had her shooting shoes on in the early going, firing off three attempts over the first 13 minutes that traveled wide, high and wide. She also narrowly missed strike partner Megumi Barber on a through ball attempt at the top of the penalty area. The Tritons then earned four consecutive corner kicks over the 18th and 19th minutes, all by senior All-American Summer Bales, but were unable to notch the opening goal.
The Purple Knights almost struck first as the clock wound down in the period when Nara DaCosta’s blast was barely slapped over the crossbar by the right hand of UC San Diego goalkeeper Angelica Ramos with under 25 seconds left in the opening frame of the action.
In the 53rd minute, suddenly UC San Diego found itself down, as Amanda Ebbesson found the bottom left corner with her right-footed shot from inside the penalty box, with the ball just beyond Ramos’ reach.
Bridgeport added its second strike at the 73:00 mark after All-American forward Maegen Doyle stepped up and sent a beautiful, curling right-footed shot into the left netting to make it 2-0. It was her 28th goal of the season, No. 2 in the country in Division II, and meant an 18th consecutive match with a goal for the junior from England.
Ramos, a redshirt junior, made two saves. Senior Jennifer Wendelius had four stops for the Purple Knights to post the individual clean sheet. Shots were even at 6-6 at the break, with the Tritons procuring an 18-11 advantage on the night.